The two countries failed to reach a comprehensive agreement on stepping up military cooperation and a nationwide cessation of hostilities in Syria after almost 10 hours of talks in Geneva on Friday, 26 August.
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They also indicate that separating US-backed rebels from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra front has been one of the sticking points in the talks.
Lavrov made the comments at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry following negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland.
The U.S. and Russian Federation said they made progress toward a new cease-fire in Syria’s civil war but had no breakthroughs after nine hours of talks in Geneva, underscoring the deep differences that remain in bringing a lasting settlement to the country’s bloody conflict.
De Mistura explained that Russian Federation has already pledged support for the 48-hour pause, and humanitarian convoys are waiting for all the others to “do the same”.
Those goals are not new, but recent developments have made achieving them even more urgent and important, US officials said.
Kerry’s initial plan, unveiled during July talks in Moscow, would have Washington and Moscow coordinate airstrikes against Islamic State fighters and stop the Syrian air force from launching any further air attacks. However, as in Moscow, neither Kerry nor Lavrov would describe them in detail.
The two diplomats were briefly joined by United Nations envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who said he hoped the talks would revive peace negotiations that were last held in April.
The Turkish-backed fighters have seized the Syrian border town of Jarabulus from the Islamic State (IS) group, while Turkish forces have also shelled a Syrian Kurdish militia that it considers to be a terror group.
“As we have all seen now, violations eventually became the norm rather than the exception”, Kerry said. They have been in contact on efforts to establish military cooperation against the jihadists. The Russian Defense Ministry wants “to prevent air incidents because it will be the first time when Turkish warplanes will intensively bomb targets in Syria and may meet Russian warplanes in midair”, a ministry official said, according to the newspaper Izvestia.
Russian Federation last week gave its blessing to a long-demanded 48-hour pause in fighting in the city to allow in aid, but de Mistura on Thursday accused other unspecified parties of dragging their feet. Recent developments include military operations around the city of Aleppo, the entry of Turkey into the ground war, Turkish hostility toward USA -backed Kurdish rebel groups and the presence of American military advisers in widening conflict zones. But equally high on the Turkish agenda was preventing USA -supported Syrian Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State from occupying Jarabulus and the surrounding border area.
The talks came as opposition groups effectively surrendered the Damascus suburb of Daraya to the regime after a grueling four-year siege.
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The most recent push to begin talks between the regime and the opposition earlier this year fell apart as a fragile cease-fire broke down and the sides remained at loggerheads about the fate of Mr. Assad.
